Peter Thiel recalls that the most important event in Facebook’s history took place in July 2006. At that time, Facebook was only two years old, had around 8 to 9 million users, and was generating $30 million a year in revenue — but it was not yet profitable.
Yahoo offered to buy Facebook for $1 billion.
A board meeting was called. Mark Zuckerberg opened the meeting with the following words:
“This is just a formality. We’ll get it over with quickly. It won’t take more than 10 minutes. We’re obviously not selling here.”
At that time, Zuckerberg was only 22 years old. Peter Thiel responded, “We need to seriously discuss this. One billion dollars is a lot of money.” He did the math: Mark owned 25% of the company, which meant he would receive $250 million. “You can do a lot with that kind of money,” Thiel said.
Zuckerberg replied:
“I don’t know what I’d do with the money. I’d probably just start another social network, because I really like the one I’m working on now.”
Conclusion:
The decision not to sell Facebook — to stay committed to the original vision — completely changed the fate of the company. Today, Facebook is valued at hundreds of billions of dollars.
Lesson:
True leaders act not for money, but out of belief in their dreams and ideas. Mark Zuckerberg’s decision was a powerful example of faith — in his vision, his team, and the future.
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